29 april 06

Today is self exploration day in Chicago. Go to the free attractions in the city.
I went back to park at my favourite spot. Metered it for 10 hrs. Today I woke up late and reached there around 10pm, luckily still got 1-2 lots left. Phew.

I then went to the shedd aquarium to buy my USD$5 1 day unlimited bus/train ticket. Unfortunately, they only sell the 2-day one which cost USD$9. Which i LL must buy, cause its pretty far from here to the city, highly unwalkable.

By the time i settled with the buying of ticket, its 30min wasted. So I went back to the car to "thong" 1 quarter and then proceed to take the bus to Chicago. Tooks some pic of the bus :

Front of bus:


Side of bus showing the string:


You see the string in the picture above? Pull it and a bell will ring indicating to the driver that I want to descend at thhe next stop. Man... really high-tech eh?

I dropped near the John Hancock building, cause there is a information center nearby and I went to grab more maps. After which i decided to have a early dinner before going to explore. Couldnt find any normal looking restaurent so went to eat at this fast food called Bao Wow. Its a interesting concept. It has its stall at 1st floor selling but its seats are on the 2nd floor. Hers how the stall look like:



This is the eating area on 2nd floor. Kind of small and there is no staff there. Really own time own target.


And heres my lunch! Kung bao chicken rice with Char siew Bun.



After finishing the meal, I proceeded to Navy Pier! Along the bus ride, saw their firestation. Fine its pretty nice so took a picture of it :



This is the view of navy pier from the bus stop.



Finally at the ferris wheel location!




I didnt take the ferris wheel yet, cause its raining. Hopefully by the time i finish the rest o this place, the rain is smaller.

So i went to see their Stain Glass museum.





Its nothing much actually...... just alot of stain glass. The one at St. Andrews catherdral beats all of them. But they did have a chart showing us different tyoe of glass can be used for which effect. The most powerful point: Stain glass is a way of art that produces images WITH glass instead of ON glass. Cheem eh?

I then proceeded to go to the Navy Pier roof top. I took quite some time to find it.... damn oloo and nobody there too. I guess nobody know how to go there .... not much direction , need to climb stairs and nobody goes there.
But the view is pretty good! Heres the pics:

A stiched picture, good eh.


Birds there. Sneaked up on them.




I then went on to take the ferris wheel. Luckily did research the night before, printed a coupon which can buy the ticket for $6 instead of $8. Hoho.
These are pictures from the ferris wheel:









I then proceeded to my next destination, Millenium park. Thats the place where the shiny beanie is.

A sign showing wheres where at the millinium park.


Pic of beanie from the bottom of the park


BEANIE!



As you can see, a lot of people is taking refuge under the beanie as it is raining. Really cold man, my precious Banana Republic Windbreaker is all wet at this point.

A picture of the Beanie from below. I stich this picture too. The right hand side is at the middle of the Beanie.


This is a picture i took perpendicular to the Beanie so you can see me in the reflection too! Unfortunately as it is raining, the reflected image is blurred.


I then proceeded to my next stop, United center. I was hoping to get ticket for the upcoming Bulls VS miami Heats match. Its kind of far, So i took the subway. These are the pics of the underground Subway at chicago, not the best of conditions.




There is somebody at the Subway giving a lecture. Its a Ang Mo wearing a full sized rain coat using a pointing stick talking. He has a frame setup complete with a big picture showing god and human with an arrow interlinking the 2 of them. So he was saying the rational of god with respect to humans... oh well. Must be too free.

I actually wanted to take a pic of the carriage... but dont dare cause mine is full of blacks. The funny thing about this train is that you are unable to move from carriage to carriage like the way Singapore MRT can.

I then reached the subway station near united center. Its above the ground and heres pic of it:




I then proceed to walk to the united center. Cold and raining still.... damn.
To make things worst, the united center is fenced up. So i cant enter.... can only take picture from afar. So much for buying tickets.




After this, its dinner time! I tooked the Subway back to chicago and walked around for restaurents. Unfortunately... counldnt find a decent one. And when i found one, its 1hr wait. So i decided to try the Restaurent below beanie.

Heres my dinner!

Appitizer : Fried Calamari


Main Dish : Steak


Dessert : Sponge cake with molten chocolate in the middle and Coconut sherbert at the sides.


Impressed I can finish all.... stomach really getting bigger. I then proceeded to take more pictures!

Its the revenge of the Beanie! Pic of Beanie in the night


Pic of a outdoor amphitheatre also at the millinium park.


And these too! Its pretty interesting, a huge block having images projected on one face.

Without projection :


With projection:


And projection with water spilling out!

Block 1:


Block 2:


Close up:



Its is actually 2 blocks facing each other. I waited quite some time for the images above. Cause even when they project human images, they dont puke water immediately. It only puke water for a short time. So i have to wait for 2 cycles.

What a long day.... I then took the bus back to the car. Luckily i went back early, manage to catch almost the last bus back to that area. Back at the car, I sidetrack to took picture of chicago in the night.





Oh man... what a day. Time to call it wraps and I drove back. Luckily never holland.
What a long entry... must be my longest. Took 1.5 hrs to finish.